On September 5, Giphy partnered with the Museum of Modern GIFs (MoMG) to launch the Giphy Gallery, a capsule collection featuring three original GIFs from each of over 75 artists. The collaboration, curated by MoMG founder Daniel Murray, debuted with a one-night immersive exhibition at Lume Studios in Manhattan's SoHo, timed to National GIF Day. The show included looped projections of works by artists such as Aleksey Efremov, Sholim, and Sam Rolfe, highlighting the GIF as a medium for artistic expression.
This initiative matters because it positions the GIF—a nearly 40-year-old digital format invented by Steve Wilhite in 1987—as a legitimate fine art medium, challenging its reputation as ephemeral internet ephemera. As the digital landscape shifts toward AI development, the Giphy Gallery taps into nostalgia for a more creative, DIY internet era, while also demonstrating the GIF's enduring utility as a universal language of communication and artistic discovery. The collaboration underscores how platforms like Giphy are elevating user-generated content into curated, gallery-worthy art.